Zippers are widely used to open and close an opening in a piece of fabric and/or to removably/reversably couple two pieces of fabric together. Zippers are used in a wide variety of applications, such as in apparel to open and close an opening on a garment. A typical zipper includes a zipper slider disposed between opposing sets of zipper teeth. As the zipper slider moves along the zipper, the zipper teeth are joined or separated depending on the direction of movement. Each set of zipper teeth is coupled to a strip of sturdy base material. The base material is attached to the garment around the opening to be joined by the zipper.
Typically, the zipper base material is attached to the garment by either stitching the base material to the garment or applying an adhesive to the base material and then attaching the base material to the garment. Both methods add complexity to the manufacturing process. Additionally, both methods add bulk to the base material, causing the base material to be relatively inflexible compared with the surrounding fabric that makes up the garment. Furthermore, the adhesives currently used, typically an air-cured liquid glue or adhesive film, can be difficult to work with. Liquid glue can be messy and must be precisely applied. If too little glue is applied, there may be loose flaps of the base material. However, if too much glue is applied, it may extend beyond the base material, creating a messy appearance and/or interfering with the functionality of the zipper. Similarly, if an adhesive film is used, it must be precisely cut to size to match the base material and avoid excess around the edges. This adds time and expense to the manufacturing process, especially considering that various garments use zippers of different sizes.